In the morning of the next day, they resumed the expedition again. Since the army had decreased in size, they could not afford to have three vanguard troops as previously. Commander Quintus only spared Jack two hundred soldiers to be used as vanguard troops, with numerous individual scouts which spread out around the main army for early detection in case the orcs decided to return. Although a ceasefire agreement was reached with the orc army, they still couldn't afford to be careless.
With only one vanguard troop, the experience gathered was less rapid, but still more abundant than if they did monster-grinding normally. Before the expedition resumed, Jack thought that he had caught up in level with the others after killing Wangombe. Only to find out dejectedly that the others had reached level 28 in the war, still placing the others ahead of him.
Jack did not see an increase in the soldiers' powers despite John and Jeanny's talents. He thought probably because the commander had appointed him as their leader instead of those two. So, their talent's effect was not triggered.
The monsters they encountered were still mostly Giant Scorpions and Flame Tigers. Only when Captain Salem informed him that they were close to their destination that they met the last monster in Jack's Hunting quests, Tri-colored Cockatrice.
The monster looked like a giant rooster with scaly skin, a lizard tail, and bat wings. Its lizard tail was green in color, its scaly body bronze, while its rooster head was red. Thus, the three colors in its name.
It could not fly though despite the wings, so it's easier to organize the soldiers against them. Flying monster would just fly over the formation, making the formation useless. However, the fights were still tough. Apart from these monsters having an average level of 40, after being sufficiently damaged, these cockatrices would unleash a projectile attack from their eyes that paralyzed the ones that got hit. The paralyzed soldiers would be immobile and open for attacks.
Luckily, the cockatrices could not use this attack often, so another soldier just went up to cover for his paralyzed comrade. Nevertheless, these cockatrices liked to attack in a large number, so if they all used these paralyzing attacks at the same time, it still caused a headache since a large number of soldiers would be incapacitated for a duration.
They continued to advance at a steady pace while obliterating the Tri-colored Cockatrice. Soon, the outline of a structure could be seen in the distance. Was it another mirage? In the two days since they resumed the expedition, they had seen such images twice, and both times had proven to just be mirages.
When several small ruins were seen in proximity, they then exhaled a breath of relief, it was no mirage. When Jack opened his Map interface, he could see the large structure they saw in the distance had the name written, Temple of Divine Squall. They had finally arrived.
The large structure in the distance was not the only ruins. There were lots of small size ruins spread out with the temple at its center. The layout made it seem that this place was most likely a bustling town in the past. Now, there were only ruins left, roamed by monsters. The vanguard troops continued onward as they cleared out the monsters and made their way to the temple.
Suddenly, three strange-looking monsters blocked their path. It was unlike the Tri-colored cockatrices which they had been fighting all this time. These new ones looked more like a giant lizard than a rooster. Jack used his God-eye monocle to scan them.
Ruin Basilisk (Elite monster, Magical), level 45
HP: 92,000
"Warn the soldiers to not look at their eyes when they started to glow," Jack heard Peniel's urgent sound.
Jack was puzzled, but he trusted the fairy enough to immediately relayed the command. However, it was too late for the ones at the front. The basilisk's eyes were already shining brightly even as Jack gave the command. The ones in front who were staring directly into the creature's eyes felt their bodies stiffened. To their comrade's horror, their bodies slowly turned into stone.
'Is that stone effect permanent?' Jack asked Peniel.
"For the native, it is as long as the battle is still ongoing. They will turn back if you kill the Basilisk," Peniel answered. "For you outworlders, you will be petrified only for a certain duration of time."
Not that he planned to send players against these monsters, they were still too low-level for these monsters. Jack proclaimed to the soldiers that the ones who turned into stone will return back once they could kill those three basilisks, this motivated the soldiers into action.
"You know, I have always been wondering. How do you know about all this seemingly new information?" John asked from the side. The other players nodded in agreement.
Jack replied truthfully, "I heard voices in my mind." Which the others just treated as he did not want to tell them how he knew what he knew.
These basilisks' level was higher than the average soldiers in the vanguard troop. Hence Captain Salem took to himself to engage one of the three. The other two were handled by another two Knight Lieutenants while the others gave supports.
The Battle was troublesome as the basilisks could use their petrifying gaze quite often. Every one minute their eyes would start to glow and the soldiers would have to look away to dodge the gaze's effect. But this caused an interruption in their assaults and created an opening for the basilisks.
At one time, the basilisk fighting one of the Knight Lieutenant swept its thick tail onto the lieutenant when he turned away to avoid the petrifying gaze. The lieutenant was smashed heavily and flew far away. This allowed the basilisk to charge into the other soldiers and created havoc. Several casualties resulted before the lieutenant came back and stabilized the situation.
The monsters' scales that covered their bodies also had magical properties that absorbed most impacts. Causing the damage delivered by the soldiers to be nerfed.
The battle took a long time, long enough for the main army to catch up. They had just managed to get the three basilisks to half their HP. The other elite soldiers from the main army came and lent a hand. The situation turned better after their assistance.
As they thought the situation was already under control. A large shape jumped onto a nearby ruin. It was another Ruin Basilisk, but this one was at least three times the size of the ones they were fighting, whose size was already bigger than a normal car.
Ruin Basilisk (Special Elite monster, Magical), level 55
HP: 230,000
It was a special elite version, so high a level some more, Jack exclaimed after he inspected the monster.
As it made itself known, its eyes glowed.
"Look away!" Captain Salem instructed.
They did so, yet the glow was reacting differently. It shot out and rained on an area. The soldiers within that area instantly turned to stone despite not looking at the creature.
"Shit! This one is different!" Bowler shouted.
The special elite ruin basilisk's eyes glowed again.
"What? No cooldown?"
As they looked with despair at the eerie glow, a soothing blue breeze swept through the crowd. The eerie glow of the basilisk clashed with this soothing breeze and was dissipated. Jack turned and saw Laurent floating forward.
We are safe!
As Jack was watching Laurent's figure as if a saint gliding through the air, a large yellow spear shot out from behind him with lightning speed. Jack turned back in time and saw the magic spear stabbed at the giant Ruin Basilisk. The spear detonated and created a shockwave that thrown the giant body tens of meters back, destroying all the ruins in its path.
Another figure flew forward, overtaking Laurent as he put himself in front of the giant Ruin Basilisk. Duke Alfredo had arrived, and he alone was more than enough to deal with that monster. It was much weaker than the rare elite Grim Sand Drake after all.
They are doomed! Jack exclaimed as he saw the duke waved his hand. Several crimson chains shot out from the ground and bound the three ruin basilisks who first appeared. They were already at disadvantage dealing with so many soldiers. Now that their movements were bound, they were just target practices.
Laurent cast a spell. Soft light descent from the sky and covered the ones that had turned into stone. The stony surface slowly peeled off and revealed healthy skin. All the ones that had been petrified soon were back to normal again.
"Yeah! Go, go, Sir duke! You are amazing, Mr. Laurent!" Bowler was shouting his throat hoarse.
Seeing these two incredible natives saved the day, the players couldn't help their desire to get stronger soon. They too yearned for the day where they were able to swoop in and saved the day like a hero.
Duke Alfredo's magic power rained down on the giant Ruin Basilisk with a colorful display. His spell was further boosted by Laurent, causing the already powerful spell to become more destructive. The rate by which the giant Ruin Basilisk's HP went down was even faster than the three smaller ones.
